After injuries derailed a promising postseason, the New York Knicks entered the 2024-25 season with high expectations. And while Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Co. have done well — the Knicks are 40-20 and solidly in third place in the Eastern Conference — they have lost each of their five games against the conference’s top teams, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics.
Against all other teams in the league, the Knicks have a 73% win percentage, but when it comes to the Celtics and Cavs, New York is 0-5. Additionally, many of the games have been rather lopsided, leading some fans and analysts to believe that the Knicks are not true competitors to reach the NBA Finals.
The stats seem to back up that line of thinking, too.
“It’s not rocket science: New York needs to defend at a far higher level — one befitting of a Tom Thibodeau-coached club — to stand any chance against Cleveland or Boston in the playoffs,” ESPN’s Chris Herring wrote. “But for several reasons, that likely isn’t a switch that can just be flipped at this point — mainly because the starters have played longer minutes than any other team’s, raising the question of whether they have a higher level left for the postseason.
“New York ranks 19th overall on defense but a dismal 29th (behind the Toronto Raptors) when defending top-10 offenses, per ESPN Research. No team has surrendered a higher 3-point mark than the Knicks; that presents a huge problem against the Celtics and Cavs, who boast the highest and fourth-highest attempt rates, respectively. Less drop coverage is one potential fix, and having center Mitchell Robinson back from his season-long absence obviously helps. But other changes figure to be necessary to close the huge gap we’ve seen all season between the Knicks and the two teams ahead of them.”
More concerning, though, is the injury bug that has seemingly caught up to the Knicks these past two seasons. Last year in the playoffs, nearly every starter was either out injured or playing with pain, including Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, and Mitchell Robinson.
This season, New York has dealt with multiple injuries, although mostly to their big men; Robinson just made his season debut last week, and Towns and reserve Ariel Hukporti have went down in the past few weeks.
While injuries can oftentimes come down to luck, Thibodeau’s reputation is that he overworks his players and thus puts them at risk of injury, so skepticism that the Knicks will be able to stay relatively healthy in a playoff run will remain until proven otherwise.
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